Thursday, April 11, 2013

MLB Game Picks - Thursday: April 11, 2013

Despite two postponed games, two bullpen disasters and a two-game winning streak by the Houston Astros, Wednesday turned out to be a pretty good day. Wade Miley did just what I predicted he would do. So did Mike Minor and Barry Zito. Both of the bullpen meltdowns helped this time instead of the other way around. And so the season continues on its merry way. Like John Buck and Jose Iglesias, the picks will slide down to the mean in time. Wait. Iglesias will not get the chance to slide back to the mean. That is another story that will be told later in the morning.

There are only eight games on the schedule today. The Yankees and Indians chose not to make up their game today and the Cubs and Brewers could not because the Cubs had to move on to a new opponent But, at least two of them are day games. Here are Thursday's picks:

The Blue Jays over the Tigers: I wrote all winter about Josh Johnson, so it is about time he started rewarding me for all the coverage. Come on now, son. The come from behind victory yesterday could propel the Blue Jays past their early season struggles. But Doug Fister will do his best to keep that from happening. Fister better go deep in the game though as the Tigers' bullpen is not doing well.

The Giants over the Cubs: This Cubs team is not going to be a roll over team this season. And this is a tough pitching match up to sort out. Ryan Vogelsong did not have a good start to his season and Scott Feldman has not been effective for a very long time. If the bullpens get involved early, the Giants win.

The Nationals over the White Sox: How fun was it to see Adam Dunn play left field yesterday? Okay, it was not fun. But those kinds of things happen when interleague happens every day and every week. Dan Haren was awful in his debut for the Nats. So that is a big worry here. But then again, despite a great first start, Dylan Axelrod is not confidence inspiring either. If this is a slugfest, then the Nats win. If this is a pitcher's duel, the Nats win.

The Yankees over the Indians: Zach McAllister might turn out to be the second best Indians starter this season. He has some game. And he gives the Indians their best chance to win in this series. But I still think the Yankees win. Phil Hughes makes his second start of the season and wasn't half bad in his first outing.

The Orioles over the Red Sox: What a treat for Red Sox fans today as Alfredo Aceves gets a fill-in start for the Red Sox today. Why does that seem like a disaster in the making? Chris Tillman was not good at all for the Orioles in his first start. So this game could be a wild one.

The Athletics over the Angels: Who know the Angels' pitching would be this bad. The Athletics are not exactly the team you think about for offense (though they have nice pieces). But the Angels cannot get them out. Jason Vargas tries to right the ship today for the Angels. But I do not see A.J. Griffin allowing that to happen.

The Mariners over the Rangers: Justin Grimm makes his Major League debut today for the Rangers. Those are always scary for this picker. Of course, making that debut against the struggling Mariners in a nice pitcher's park like the one in Seattle is comforting. There is only one thing standing in the way of him winning: Felix Hernandez.

And the Game of the Day!

The Dodgers over the Padres: Zack Greinke looked like he was worth all that money in his first start of the season and he gets to pitch in the big ballpark in San Diego. Greinke is going to like that. Jason Marquis is still capable of fooling batters in three-quarters of his at bats against. It is that other quarter that you have to worry about.

Followers

Privacy Policy

The Flagrant Fan (Glimmer Tree, LLC) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy covers The Flagrant Fan's treatment of personal information that The Flagrant Fan gathers when you are on the The Flagrant Fan website and when you use The Flagrant Fan services. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that The Flagrant Fan does not own or control, or to individuals that The Flagrant Fan does not employ or manage.

Information Collected by The Flagrant Fan: We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our website. This information allows us to provide you with a customized and efficient experience. We do not process this information in a way that is incompatible with this objective. We collect the following types of information from our The
Flagrant Fan users: 1. Information You Provide to Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features. 2. automatic Information: o We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The Flagrant Fan and its authorized agents automatically receive and record
certain "traffic data" on their server logs from your browser including your IP address, The Flagrant Fan cookie information, and the page you requested. The Flagrant Fan uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyze trends and administer the website. o The Flagrant Fan may collect and, on any page, display the total counts that page has been viewed. o Many companies offer programs that help you to visit websites anonymously. While The Flagrant Fan will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available. E-mail Communications The Flagrant Fan is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your email address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in
the "Sharing Your Information" section below. The Flagrant Fan may send out e-mails with The Flagrant Fan-related news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. CookiesCookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our website are visited and by how many people. The Flagrant Fan cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or what your screen name or e-mail address is. The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because cookies allow you to use some of The Flagrant Fan's coolest features. The Flagrant Fan's advertising partners may place a cookie on your browser that makes it possible to collect anonymous non-personally identifiable information that ad delivery systems use to present more relevant ads. If you would prefer to opt-out of this standard practice, please visit our advertising partner Platform-A's privacy policy and opt-out page. Sharing Your Information Rest assured that we neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below. The Flagrant Fan Personnel: The Flagrant Fan personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal
course of The Flagrant Fan business. Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if The Flagrant Fan, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user
information would be one of the assets that is transferred. Protection of The Flagrant Fan and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Flagrant Fan, our employees, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and
credit risk reduction. Syndication: The Flagrant Fan allows for the RSS syndication of all of its public content within the The
Flagrant Fan website. With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible
with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information. Children Under 18 Years of Age You must be 13 years and older to register to use the The Flagrant Fan website. As a result, The Flagrant Fan does not specifically collect information about children. If we learn that The Flagrant Fan has collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. We recommend that minors between the ages of 13 and 18
ask and receive their parents' permission before using The Flagrant Fan or sending information about themselves or anyone else over the Internet. Changes to this Privacy Policy The Flagrant Fan may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the The
Flagrant Fan website so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed. Conditions of Use If you decide to visit The Flagrant Fan website, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of California state law. Effective Date of this Privacy Policy This Privacy Policy is effective as of October 21, 2010 and last updated October 21, 2010.